May 12, 2008

Hamas Manufactures a Crisis, Con't

Children at home sit by candlelight in Gaza City/AFP photo by Mahmud Hams

The Jerusalem Postreports today that although the Gaza power plant shut down on 5 p.m. Saturday, a Palestinian Authority official says the plant has enough fuel to run through this evening:

But Mujahid Salame, head of the Palestinian Authority's Petrol Authority in the West Bank, said the fuel should have been enough to keep the power plant going until Monday evening. Salame is hostile to Hamas but coordinates the entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip. . . .

Hamas is widely believed to be hoarding fuel for commercial vehicles, ensuring its loyalists get supplies first.

Ziad Zaza, a member of the Hamas government in Gaza, said fuel would be distributed to bus companies to transport private individuals and students. He did not say where the government obtained the fuel.

"This is another example of Hamas orchestrating an artificial crisis," said government spokesman David Baker in Jerusalem.

The AP updates that Israel's shipment to fuel has resumed (it was shut down after Israeli civilian Jimmy Kedoshim was killed Friday night by a Palestinian rocket). The AP notes:

[Gaza energy official Kanaan] Obeid has said the plant was shut down Saturday because it ran out of fuel supplied by Israel. It was not clear whether the plant actually ran out of fuel or whether Gaza's Hamas leaders were trying to exaggerate the impression of crisis.